Sight Unseen
by Lily Hanson
Summary: Sometimes, it's not sight that helps you see.
1. A Prank?

_Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers Megaforce. This story is fan-made._

_Author's Note: This is not where the Megaforce series starts. If you want to read the series without getting lost, I suggest you read my stories in the order they appear:_

_**No To Date Nights - The Party Night - Project Partners - Megaforce: Lives Behind The Masks - **__**Prom Night**__ - __**A Trip To Remember - First Meetings - Something She Loves – Protective Morans – Samurai In Harwood County – Rainy Days – Luck Had Nothing To Do With It – Ranger Support – Parents and Children – Hero Without The Spandex – Emma's Night – Emma's Mother – Bait And Switch – After Death – A Stormy Day – A Date For Tensou – A Mother's Advice – Mending Fences – Executioner Named Revenge –Those Three Words – On The Fourth Day – Babysitting – Tiger- A Fresh Start – On the Mountains – Looking Ahead – The Rangers' Recovery – Daughter's Nightmare – Megaforce: With Great Power –Cookies – The Babysitters: Jake and Gia – Better Off With The Burrows**_ – _**A Hard Journey – The Messenger – Megaforce: The Invasion Arrives – Learning To See**_

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><p><em>Contest: For those of you who may not have caught on, my last story ended with Rebecca choosing to continue with her blindness. However, Rebecca is not my first OC to suffer from this condition.<em>

_To win, you must name the OC character (first and last name) and the series in which this character appeared. The winners will get to choose between a deleted scene or a preview of a future scene or story. Submit your preference with the answer._

_Bonus: Name the reason for this character's blindess to win both._

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><p>Rebecca's life was far from easy. She lost her mother at a young age and struggled to cope with the loss through her adolescence. She rebelled against her father and paid the heavy cost when she found herself pregnant. The baby's father refused to acknowledge it was his baby and humiliated her and her father pressured her into keeping the baby. She got involved with the wrong people, and were it not for her bumping into her kind and determined older half-brother, she knew she could have found herself in prison or even dead. Her struggles with her father continued though, and in a heated argument, he slapped her. Rebecca ran away and temporarily wanted to stay with her half brother's family. However, she constantly felt like the unwanted step-child and struggled to feel at home while also trying to mend her relationship with her father.<p>

But there seemed to be nothing she could do to get her family back. Her father married a woman who, rather than help him get his life together, allowed him to wallow in self-pity. When Rebecca pushed and begged her father to do better, he fought back, beating her up in his kitchen, then taking another of his many beers back to the living room. Later, when Rebecca returned to check up on him, she found him dead. She lost two parents before even reaching the age of seventeen. Fortunately for her, her brother's parents were willing to take her in, and for a few months, Rebecca felt she had a home. Unfortunately, fate decided to take that away. Her new parents were killed in a missile attack from the Armada, leaving her and her brother to care for his newest sister.

It was hit after hit, and misfortune on top of misfortune. Rebecca could have understandably drowned by now, but she chose to keep her head up. She had a rough time, and plenty of difficult decisions, but she now found herself surrounded by a family she knew would care for her until the very end. That alone gave her enough of a reason to wake up with a smile.

It was difficult to learn she was blind, and more difficult to learn to find her way again. Tensou had offered to do a procedure that would replace her broken eyes with robotic ones that were connected to a chip in her brain so she could see, but Rebecca had been scared. Tensou had admitted the procedure would be painful and uncomfortable, and there were no guarantee it would work the first time. Rebecca opted not to do it, and for weeks struggled to figure out how to live without her sight. When it got to be too much, Gia took her to Ocean Bluff to visit a Pai Zhuq master who was also blind. There, she learned to tap deeper into her connection with her dolphin, and now knew how to use a technique very similar to echolocation to get an image of her surroundings. It wasn't yet perfect, but Rebecca knew how to detect the outlines of people and objects around her. It gave her hope that she could continue on her path to a happy, healthy life with her friends.

She was more than excited as she got back on the Sky Ship to tell her brother and her boyfriend all about how she could, in her own way, see again. Once her feet touched the ground and the sound they made traveled through the air and back, she could see exactly where the Rangers were standing on the ship. It was difficult to tell them apart just by their outlines and she walked slowly at first, but eventually she made out Noah's outline and ran straight to him. She jumped in his arms and hugged him warmly.

"I did it!" she told him. "Master Swoop taught me how to be blind!"

"How to be blind?" Noah chuckled as he set her back down on her feet. She nodded her head excitedly.

"It's echolocation. I can use sounds to see where everything is!"

"Echolocation?" Noah asked her. "But that's... I mean, how..."

"I have the dolphin spirit," Rebecca smiled. "Master Swoop said they're like bats. They use sounds to see where they're going in the ocean. When I trust her, she knows how to guide me! I completed Master Swoop's maze, saved Gia, and only tripped once or twice on the walk home! I told Gia to watch out for a tree! She didn't even see it!"

"You didn't see a tree?" Jake chuckled. Gia looked straight at him, but not happily or with annoyance that he was laughing at her near misfortune. She seemed confused. Scared even. She stepped away from him and closer to Rebecca.

"Am I missing something here?" she asked. Rebecca turned to her.

"No, you were there. Remember the big tree?"

"Yeah, it's just... I hear everyone but... no one's here," Gia said. Rebecca frowned deeply.

"What do you mean, no one's here? Look, it's Noah," she took the blue Ranger's hand and pulled him in closer. "There's Troy, Jake, Emma, and Orion. The only ones not here are Ryan, but I guess it's nap time, and Tensou."

"No," Gia shook her head. "I think your echolocation is echo-loco. I'm looking around and I don't see a soul."

Rebecca squeezed Noah's hand, "Um, maybe you've gone blind, Gia."

"Gia, we're right here," Jake said. Gia jumped at the sound of his voice and once again turned and looked directly at him, but she didn't seem to notice he was there at all. She backed away slowly.

"This isn't funny. Okay, if Noah's figured out a new weapon or something..."

"Weapon?" Noah asked. "I haven't had time to work on anything since you left. Troy and I sat down to talk, just like we promised and then we kicked Vekar's latest monster's butt."

"You talked?" Rebecca smiled as she turned to her brother. Troy walked over to Noah.

"I took off my big brother hat and just listened to him explained what happened at Vrak's," Troy nodded. "I put myself in his shoes and, well, I'm not saying I would have made the same decision he made, but I can see what he tried to do and it just didn't work out."

"I told him what I told you," Noah said. "I didn't mean to put you in harm's way. I just let my better judgement be clouded. I promise, it's not going to happen again, and I'm training hard so you never have to worry about aliens getting to you."

"So, you're good?" Rebecca asked.

"We're good," they answered her and then each gave her a hug. Rebecca was over the moon. Gia still couldn't believe her eyes, or anything else that was going on.

"Can someone please tell me where the hell you all are?" she asked and started to turn around, hoping she could catch sight of one of her friends, as this game was really starting to get on her nerves. As she turned, though, she felt a hand brush up against her arm. She jumped, stumbled into what felt like a body, jumped the other way and lost her balance. Just before she was about to hit the ground, someone caught her.

"Careful," Orion said. "Is everything alright?"

She jumped from his arms, found her footing and then backed off completely. When she looked around, all she could see was Rebecca. There was no one else on the ship, and yet she could hear their voices. Finally, Tensou rolled out from below deck. She turned to him.

"Where the hell are they?" she asked him angrily. Tensou pointed.

"Them?"

"This isn't funny," Gia growled. "This ghostly, voice throwing prank's gone far enough. Ha-ha, Rebecca's blind but I'm the one who can't see the guys. Fine! You win. Just tell me where they are!"

"Right there," Tensou pointed again. Gia then felt a hand on her back.

"Did something happen in Ocean Bluff?" Emma asked her. Gia stumbled backwards and shook her head.

"Stop it!"

"Gia, you're freaking us out."

"Me?" she frowned. "You know I hate this ghostly Halloween themed crap! Just stop it!"

"Stop what? We're not doing anything. You're looking right at me."

"No I'm not!" Gia screamed loud enough to wake Ryan from her nap. Rebecca volunteered to go pick her up. She walked to the boy's bedroom while Gia continued to stare at the empty ship. Another hand touched her and she jumped fearfully again.

"Gia, maybe Tensou should have a look at you," Orion suggested.

"Are you sure..."

"Shut up," Gia pinned her hands to her ears and screwed her eyes shut. Tiger, who had gone to play with her toys once she boarded the ship, saw Gia in distress and decided to act. She ran to Gia's feet and stood protectively in front of her mistress. She growled, but she didn't seem to know what she was growling at. Gia picked up her cub and hugged her close. She glared at the empty ship. "Milk."

"Gia, we're not doing anything," Jake told her. At the same time, Rebecca stepped out with Ryan. The little girl was still a little groggy from her nap, but no longer crying. She was nestled in Rebecca's arms contently as she continued to wake up. Rebecca walked back out and decided now that everyone was up and around she would tell them of her decision.

"Can we talk about something?" she asked.

"Milk," Gia said. Rebecca frowned.

"What?"

"Gia, we'd stop, but we're not doing anything," Jake insisted again and then Gia felt someone take her hand. She pulled away and screamed again. Her fear worried the Rangers and upset Ryan. The little girl never liked to see the others in pain so when Gia screamed, it unsettled her again.

"Here, I'll take her," Troy offered to Rebecca and took Ryan in his arms. However, doing so didn't seem to calm her like it normally did. Instead, Ryan let out a scream of her own. Troy tried to sooth her, but every touch and anything he said only seemed to upset her more. "Ry, it's me," he said to her but she wanted to be put down. Deciding to do so and hoping it would calm her down to stand in her own, Troy set the little girl on her feet. Ryan screamed as she ran from him and right to Gia. She grabbed the yellow Ranger's legs and hid behind them fearfully. Gia held Tiger in one arm and then scooped the baby up with the other."

"Milk," Gia growled. "Now!"

"Maybe something is wrong," Noah suggested. "Tensou..."

"I don't detect anything," the little robot answered. "I can run a few test, though. Gia..."

"I'm not the whack job here," Gia shook her head. "If you insist you can see them, take one of them to do your little tests. I'm leaving!"

"Gia..."

"You all suck!" Gia shouted. She gave Ryan back to Rebecca and then walked off the ship.


	2. Something Unusual

Tensou had to double check his findings, but if his machines and analyses were right, there was nothing wrong with the Rangers. He rolled over to them while he shook his head. He gave his papers to Troy.

"Everything appears normal," he said. "Your vitals are normal, I can't see anything wrong with you, I don't know what Gia's freaking out over."

"She's not normally one to make stuff up," Emma muttered. "If she says there's something weird going on, something weird is going on."

"But she's the only one who thinks so," Jake said. Troy shook his head.

"She's not the only one," he pointed to Ryan, who was bouncing happily on Rebecca's lap. "Ryan's acting up too."

"Maybe Gia just upset her," Rebecca suggested. "We know what Ryan's like, and we know she likes Gia. If Gia's freaking out, Ryan might have just been going along with it."

"I think it's more than that," Troy stated. "Ryan hasn't even looked at me since her nap. Watch. Ryan, over here. Look at me! Look at big brother."

Ryan looked around the room when she heard Troy's voice but never seemed to focus on him. Troy sighed loudly. Rebecca continued to play with the little girl.

"Something's up, then," Noah stated. Rebecca raised an eyebrow.

"With Gia and Ryan?"

"I'd prefer to run my tests on Gia," Tensou told the Rangers. He looked nervously to Ryan, "I wouldn't be able to get much more than a vital test done on a baby. She can't tell me how she's feeling."

Tensou then turned to Rebecca with a little sigh, "Sorry, but depending on how long this takes to figure out, you might have to wait another day or so for the opera..."

"I don't want it," Rebecca said. She didn't need to see to know her friends all turned to her in shock. She shrugged her shoulders. "This echolocation thing is kind of cool. I might get bored of it someday, but I'd like to really understand how to use it. No offence, Tensou, but what if the operation doesn't work, or I go blind again or something?"

"You mean, you don't want to see?" Noah asked. Rebecca shook her head.

"I can see what's important," she nodded. "My footsteps make enough noise for me to see where I'm going. When we talk, that's enough for me to pinpoint where you guys are. Master Swoop said I still have a lot to learn. This could be a pretty sweet advantage for us."

"No more having to worry about the dark," Jake smirked. His teammates turned to him. He shrugged, "What? We're in the middle of a war, and we all know before it's over we're going to hit that do or die fight. What if the Armada or someone attacks a power plant or turns the day to night or something."

"It won't affect me if the world is dark," Rebecca said. "I don't need light to find my way. And besides, I don't want to rely on sight to get through my life. I mean, Noah, you know how much it sucks when you lose your glasses."

"Echolocation would be pretty cool when that happens," Noah nodded his head. "But are you sure this is what you want? Blindness?"

"I want to give it a shot," she nodded. "I want to see how far I can go and exactly what I can do on my own. Gia's right. If I do decide to get my sight back, I want it to be because I feel it's a better decision and not because I think I can't handle it."

"Alright, well, I'm always willing to do the operation in the future," Tensou told her. "I guess I'll just hold off my studies until you think you might want your sight back."

"Thanks, Tensou," Rebecca smiled. She turned to her brother and Noah, "I hope that's okay?"

They looked to each other and both let out a sigh, but when they turned to Rebecca they were all smiles. They nodded their heads, "We're behind you completely. Whatever you want, we'll do what we can to help."

"Thanks," Rebecca said.

"Guys, there's still the matter of getting Gia in for testing," Orion stated. "Tensou's confirmed there's nothing wrong with us so if we're going to figure out what caused her to freak out, we've got to get her back."

"Did anything happen while you were gone?" Emma asked Rebecca. The younger girl shook her head.

"We made it to JKP and back without problems. Master Swoop did kind of hurt her during my training, though."

"Hurt her how?"

"Gia said he was just pinching her and stuff whenever I messed up. Just to make her groan or cry out or something to get me worked up. Gia swore he didn't really do anything serious."

"You're sure it was nothing?"

"Well, she did call for milk. But after she was fine and everything," Rebecca nodded. "I mean, she didn't seem to have any problems with Master Swoop. She said on the walk home she'd like to go back to JKP after the war. I mean, unless she's got more bruises I can't see..."

"She seemed fine to me," Emma said. "Besides, Master Swoop, Casey and RJ were all Rangers. We trust them, right?"

"But nothing's wrong with us," Noah pointed out. "Tensou's tests confirm it. We're all normal. Gia's the one freaking out about all this. She's behaving weirdly. We've got to get her back on the ship and..."

"Good luck with that," Jake muttered. "She used milk, and whatever's going on, she didn't think it stopped. Unless she's feeling better, we can't just walk up to her..."

"Maybe you guys can't, but whatever's going on, it's not affecting me," Rebecca said. "Well, whatever's going on with Gia is just with you guys. She seemed to be fine with me. I can go talk to her."

"Alone?" Troy asked.

"I'm going to have to," Rebecca said. "If she doesn't trust you, it's going to be hard to get her to come back."

"I don't like this," Troy shook his head. "You being blind and Vrak and Vekar still out there..."

"I'll be fine," Rebecca promised. "I can find my way around the city alright. I trust my dolphin spirit. Besides, I'll have my communicator and I'll be looking for Gia. She won't let anything happen to me."

"We just defeated Vekar's latest monster," Jake said. "It might be a day before he tries something else. You know how he likes to lick his wounds."

"And Vrak and Cliff are more likely to go after Gia than Rebecca if they're alone," Orion pointed out. "This might be our best chance."

"Alright, alright," Troy sighed loudly. "Just be safe, alright?"

"Can do," Rebecca nodded her head. She held out Ryan to pass her over to her brother. As Troy grabbed the young girl and Rebecca let go, Ryan started to cry and seemed to be bracing herself for a fall. As soon as she let out a howling scream, Rebecca took her back.

"Um... that's really weird," she said as she tried to sooth her sister.

Tensou rolled over and took the little girl in his arms, "Maybe I will run a few tests on her. A vital test and some brain scans, just to make sure everything's okay."

Rebecca nodded her head and trusting her sister was in safe hands, she turned to leave. Ryan, seeing her go, started to scream again and tried to get out of Tensou's arms. She had been left in the little robot's care before, but usually only when the Rangers were all training together and during nap times. Most of the time, she had either Troy or Rebecca watching her, or one of the other Rangers. So when one of them walked off, Ryan never screamed like this.

Tensou set her down and Ryan cried out loudly as she ran to Rebecca. She wrapped her arms tightly around her sister's legs and screamed, begging Rebecca didn't leave. Troy walked over to pick her up and comfort her, but Ryan only seemed to get more worked up.

"Okay, this is really weird," Rebecca held Ryan once more and walked her over to Tensou's examination table. She sat down with the little girl. "She's never been this attached to me before. Ry, what's going on?"

Ryan buried her face in Rebecca's chest and clung to her as if for dear life. Rebecca wrapped her arms around her and kissed the top of her head.

"Tensou, can I hold her while you do the scans?" she asked.

"We might have no choice," Tensou answered.

"Then who's going after Gia?" Jake frowned.

"I'll go once Tensou's done and Ryan's calm," Rebecca said. "Sorry, but I can't leave her like this. Something's up and I can't just walk out on her."

Emma nodded her head and then lightly tapped Jake's arm, "I think we've got to do the same."

"With Ryan?"

"Gia."

"Gia flipped out on us," Jake said. "You heard the milk and we couldn't stop whatever it was that was freaking her out."

"I know," Emma nodded her head, "But that doesn't mean we just let her go."

"Em..."

"If something is wrong, I don't want her wandering around the city alone," Emma told him. "We know we're not going to hurt her. If we keep our distance, maybe we can keep an eye on her without completely losing her trust. Wouldn't you rather she flip out in our hands than fall into one of Vrak or Vekar's traps?"

"I'll join you guys when I can," Rebecca said. Jake sighed and then nodded his head. With Emma, they teleported down to the city to start looking around for Gia.

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><p><em>Author's Note: Contest still ongoing for those who want to win prizes! Some have already won, but many need answers that are a lot more detailed. It's a bonus for a reason!<em>

_Prizes will be handed out in a future chapter. Thanks to everyone who has/is participating!_


	3. Desperate Measures

_Author's Note: Well, that's it for the contest. A lot of winners and a lot more participants. Thanks to everyone that played._

_Here are the answers:_

_Character: Elena Bradley_

_Series: Kaylee Series (note: RPM: The Last Stand is the story)._

_Bonus: You had to mention radiation poisoning or toxic water getting splashed into her eyes during the evacuation (to Corinth)._

_Another little note: some got the bonus right but mentioned the story, not the series. To earn the bonus, you had to first be able to get the main question right._

_Congrats to the winners: KLR (Deleted Scene), jg13145 (still need to know whether you want a preview or deleted scene). xXxKaraBeckerCutterxXx, JessiS, Eternal-Cry16, Maeve111999, beyondpower22, Abi Lawrence, and ShedaNoPanda for winning both! You all have 48 hours to claim your prize!_

_Thanks again to everyone who played! I hope to continue hearing from all of you in the future! Always great to get feedback!_

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><p>While Tensou did his tests on Ryan up in the Sky Ship, Jake and Emma went down into the city to see if they could find Gia. They didn't want to risk getting too close for fear Gia's shaken trust would vanish completely, but they couldn't leave her to walk around the city streets alone, especially in her condition. While Rebecca claimed nothing had happened to the yellow Ranger on their little trip, Vekar and Vrak especially had subtle ways of toying with the Rangers. No one wanted to rule out foul play from the alien brothers until they could confirm whatever was causing the odd behaviour.<p>

There weren't too many places Gia could go in the city given she had taken Tiger with her. The young cub was getting bigger every day and could pass less and less for a very life-like stuffed animal. To avoid the risk of people freaking out and to keep attention from being drawn on her, Gia would have to keep to more secluded parts of the city. Emma knew one park where people didn't tend to visit often. The city didn't maintain it like they did the main park. The grass was a little overgrown, there were more weeds than flowers and at night teenagers like to use it for their illicit activities. The fact that there was also no play structure nearby meant parents didn't take their kids there on sunny afternoons. From time to time Emma had gone to the park with Gia just to get away without venturing too far away from home. With Tiger, it would be the perfect place to go.

"She's here," Jake pointed out to Emma when they saw the yellow Ranger sitting in the grass, watching as Tiger tried catching a butterfly that was floating around the field. Emma nodded her head and then walked Jake over to an overgrown bush. They sat down behind it. Through its leaves and branches, they could see Gia, but unless the yellow Ranger knew where to look, she wouldn't be able to see them. Jake sighed loudly as they kept watch.

"I hope Tensou can come up with answers soon. I hate watching from a distance."

Emma nodded her head, "Sometimes it's all we can do. I just hope Rebecca can convince her to come home."

"It's weird though, right?" Jake asked. "She has no problems with Rebecca, but with us she's completely paranoid."

"She said she couldn't see us, but that doesn't make any sense," Emma said. "I can see you just fine. I can see the others just fine. And Rebecca knows we're here. It's just Gia."

"Just Gia, and Ryan's acting a little funny," Jake pointed out. "Gia wasn't there to work her up when she threw a fit for Rebecca leaving."

"Tensou checked us. We're perfectly fine," Emma rested her chin on her knees. "I wish the problem was with us, though."

"You want to have something wrong with you?"

"For once," Emma nodded. Jake cocked and eyebrow.

"Emma, that construction site we passed, you remember what used to be there, right? That used to be a huge condominium until Princess Emma decided to rear her ugly head."

Emma punched him in the chest. Jake sighed, "Sorry. I'm just saying, I prefer you not having problems."

"I'd rather be Princess Emma again than have Vrak or Cliff or Vekar playing with Gia again," Emma muttered.

"Really? Because you kind of wiped out half the city... OW!" Jake rubbed his chest after Emma punched him again. "I'm just saying!"

"Don't you wish, at least Vrak, would pick another target sometimes?"

Jake rolled his eyes and then sighed. He looked out at Gia, "All the time. But Tensou tested us all. There's nothing wrong with us. Besides, Gia's the one acting weird. As much as I wish the problem was me, you have to look at the facts. I'm normal, you're normal, our scans are normal, Gia's freaking out. We might have to brace ourselves, Emma."

"Brace for what?"

"Doing what's best," Jake said. Emma glanced out at her best friend and then sighed. Suddenly, Rebecca joined them behind the bush. The two Rangers turned to the younger girl with a deep frown.

"How did you find us?"

"Echolocation," Rebecca chuckled. "You guys are hiding from people who can see. My dolphin senses told me this bush had a really weird shape when I walked into the park and heard you two whispering."

"We're going to have to get used to this one," Jake flicked his thumb towards Rebecca. She chuckled.

"I'm special. So what's the plan? Do I just go talk to her on my own or are we all going to do this?"

"We should all go," Jake said. "Hopefully Gia's calmed down enough that we can talk to her."

"How were Ryan's scans?" Emma asked. Rebecca sighed.

"Normal. She's a healthy little girl. Best explanation we've got for what happened is just fussiness. Gia did wake her up halfway through her nap, and Ryan likes to sleep."

"So the problem's got to be with Gia," Jake said. Rebecca shook her head.

"I don't know. Something about this just feels... off. I swear, nothing happened on our trip. Gia was fine the whole way there and the whole way back. It was just when we got back on the ship that she started freaking out."

"Something could have happened without you seeing it," Jake pointed out. Rebecca frowned.

"I prevented her walking into a tree. Sight isn't an issue anymore. Well, not as much as it could be."

"Either way, we won't know until Tensou tests her," Emma said. She stood up, "Let's just try and talk her into coming home."

Jake and Rebecca got up as well and made their way over to Gia carefully. Emma tapped the yellow Ranger on the shoulder. Gia jumped, turned around and then breathed a sigh of relief.

"Becca, don't do that."

"I didn't do it," Rebecca shook her head. "Gia, we want you to come home. Tensou tested everyone and we're just missing you."

"What's he testing them for?"

Rebecca shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know, but he didn't find anything. It's just you now..."

"Me?" Gia frowned. "They're the ones pulling the prank."

"We aren't pranking anyone," Jake shook his head. Gia jumped at the sound of his voice and took a step back, just like she had done on the ship, Jake reached out to take her hand. He barely touched her before she pulled away again.

"This isn't funny!" she shouted at Rebecca. "Tell them to stop!"

"Stop what?" Rebecca asked.

"Whatever they're doing. However they're doing it!"

"We're not doing anything," Emma said. Gia jumped and stepped away from her.

"Stop it!"

"Gia..."

"Why are you going along with this?" Gia screamed at Rebecca. "What the hell did I do?"

"Just come back on the ship."

"Leave me alone!" Gia shouted and suddenly took off running. Rebecca gasped to hear her leave but Jake took off running after her.

"Whatever happened, we're going to fix it!" he reassured the yellow Ranger. "Gia, just stop running and let us figure this out."

Gia didn't stop running, and Jake would have kept following her, but Tiger decided to pounce. She wasn't heavy, but Jake didn't see her coming. She tackled him in the side and knocked him right into the ground. Fortunately, Emma was quick to pick the cub up and hold her back. Tiger swiped at the pink Ranger with her claws and tried to bite, but Emma knew how to hold her carefully. Jake continued to run after Gia, and sped up the pace just a little more to catch up to her. He tackled her to the ground and then pinned her down.

"Gia, something's wrong," Jake told her. Gia tried to get up but Jake held her down. "We want to get you tested. It's for your own good."

"Milk!" Gia shouted. Jake relaxed just for a moment but then shook his head and tightened hid grip on Gia once again. He had promised to always respect her call for milk, but this time had to be the exception. If he stopped what he was doing, he knew she would get up and take off. He didn't want her running through the city alone. He hated it, but he had to ignore her.

"Rebecca, call the others," he said as he continued to pin the yellow Ranger down. Rebecca got right on her task. She grabbed her communicator and called the other Rangers to the park. The three boys arrived. Noah had a syringe in his hand. Gia screamed fearfully when she saw it. Noah hesitated to prick her, but did so knowing it wouldn't hurt her. Jake tried to look strong and kept Gia down until she was sedated. Then he let go and scooped her up in his arms.

"I hate this," Jake said to Noah and shook his head. "Tensou better come up with something. I can't do this again."

"I'm sure we'll figure it out. Let's just get her back. Tensou's ready for her."


	4. Two Rights

Jake stared down at his hands as he sat by himself up in the crow's nest. While he knew he would never hurt Gia, he couldn't help but feel like he had done wrong by her. By not giving her the space and reassurance she needed when she called for milk, he felt just a mean and nasty as Cliff.

The door opened up. Orion climbed into the crow's nest and looked to Jake sympathetically, "You had to do it."

"That doesn't make it any easier," he said.

"Once we get Gia back, I'm sure she'll understand. She's stubborn, but she's not stupid."

"I know. I'm still worried," Jake sighed. He looked up at Orion, "How are the tests?"

"All have come up normal."

"Seriously?"

"Tensou's looking deeper. He's looking for anything out of the ordinary beyond just vitals and scans."

"How is everything coming up normal?"

"Maybe this attack goes deeper than the others?" Orion suggested. "Maybe one of the brothers found a way to keep their... whatever from being detected. You know, to destroy us from the inside out."

"It sounds like a Vrak plan. And making Gia his target again..."

"Hey, we've figured everything else out, right? We'll figure this one out. Gia's going to be fine."

"I hope so."

Orion nodded his head and gave Jake a comforting pat on the shoulder before he climbed back down to the deck. As he hopped off the ladder, he saw Rebecca coming out of his room. He knew she had just put Ryan down for a second nap.

"How's the kid?"

"She's fine. Hopefully she's a little less fussy when she wakes up. My ears can't handle all the screaming."

"We'll try to keep her happy," Orion promised. Rebecca sighed loudly.

"Hopefully we figure out what's up. This wasn't the homecoming I was expecting."

"Homecoming?"

"Yeah. A celebration for coming home."

"You were gone a day," Orion chuckled.

"Um, yeah, but it was a journey to better myself as a human being. Those are deep."

"I used to work in the mines for weeks and then come home to screaming brothers and sisters."

"Sucks for you. I was expected a big celebration and dinner."

"Humans are spoiled," Orion muttered under his breath. Rebecca smirked.

"I heard that."

-Megaforce-

Below deck, Tensou had finished with his tests and was waiting for the second round of results to come through. While he worked away on his computer, Emma sat by the examination table where Gia lay. She hadn't yet come to since Noah had sedated her, but to avoid her running off or freaking out on one of the others, Tensou had to restrain her. Emma knew it wasn't likely Tensou find the cause and cure for her behaviour before the drugs wore off, but she hoped he would. She knew a part of her would never forgive herself if Gia found herself once again held against her will by her own friends.

However, the most important thing was Gia's health. Emma was willing to go to great lengths to take care of her best friend, and knew Tensou wouldn't do anything to hurt her. He wouldn't dare. After all, despite Vanessa being in a committed relationship, Tensou still had a huge crush on her. He knew how much Vanessa cared for Gia and so did everything he could to keep her safe. Emma had noticed that Tensou would often spend more time caring for Gia's injuries than he would the others, and often panicked a lot more over Gia than anyone else. Considering it hadn't yet cost the others an arm or a leg, everyone found it to be quite comical.

This time, it worked to their advantage. Emma knew Tensou would work tirelessly to find out what had gotten into the yellow Ranger and how to stop it hurting her further. Emma just had to trust that by the time it was all over, her relationship with Gia wouldn't be too badly severed.

Emma looked up when she heard a little moan. She saw Gia was starting to come too and braced herself for her reaction. Gia tried to bring her hand up to rub her eyes, but quickly found it was restrained to the side of the examination table. She groaned, dropped her head back in the pillow her friends had left for her and rolled her eyes, "Great. Now I'm a fucking lunatic."

Emma didn't want to say anything. There really wasn't anything to say. She hoped that if she just sat there quietly and answered any questions Gia had, she could keep her best friend calm. However, the questions never came. Gia never even seemed to acknowledge Emma was in the room. When Gia was more alert, she simply turned her head over to where Tensou was working and spoke to him.

"So how bad do they think I've lost it?" she asked him. Tensou turned to her with a sigh.

"My scans don't show anything yet, but you can ask Emma yourself."

Gia huffed, rolled her eyes and turned her head away from Tensou. Emma thought Gia was giving her the silent treatment. She thought she had pissed her off to the point where she would pretend Emma wasn't even in the room. Gia would often do so when she got angry. The cold shoulder, the silent treatment, pretending the person she was angry with was dead to her, they were all Gia's strategies, and Emma was scared Gia was employing them all at once this time. She reached out her hand and was just about to apologize to Gia when she felt the yellow Ranger jump again. It happened just after Emma's hand touched Gia's.

"Who's there?" Gia asked. She looked down at her hand and then around the room. "Tensou, who the hell is here?"

"Emma," Tensou answered, like it was obvious, and it was. "She's been here the whole time."

"Emma's not here, Tensou," Gia growled. "Can you just stop with the act?"

"She's right there! Emma, tell her," Tensou said. Emma chose silence. Something was weird and she wanted to figure out what. Tensou rolled over to her. "Emma, tell her you're there!"

Emma didn't say anything. She shook her head and looked down at Gia. Now it was Tensou's turn to get frustrated.

"Emma! Talk to her! Let her know you're here! Come on, what's gotten into you?"

"No one's there, Tensou," Gia argued with him. "And whatever trick you're playing..."

"It's not a trick. She's there! Look!" Tensou said and poked Emma in the leg. Emma didn't make a sound. Gia raised an eyebrow.

"What am I looking at? If you're the guy who's supposed to fix me from whatever, maybe we need to check your programming."

"But she's there!"

"No one's there!" Gia screamed. Emma gasped loudly as the solution finally dawned on her, startling both Gia and Tensou.


	5. The Naked Eye

Emma ran up onto the deck, stumbling endlessly because her mind was focused more on finding her friends than on actually running. She called out for them and as they emerged from the bedrooms or the crow's nest, she stopped to catch her breath. The boys and Rebecca all looked to her with concern, fearing Tensou's results were not good for Gia.

"What happened?" Jake was the first to ask and the most concerned. Emma took another moment to pant and find her breath before she looked her friends dead in the eye, as serious as could be.

"I think we're invisible."

Her friends looked around at each other before they started to laugh. Emma knew they weren't going to believe her right away. Her claim was impossible. They could see each other. Rebecca knew they were around, and there was no way a human could be invisible. Aliens had attacked and caused some unusual occurrences for the Rangers, but the latest one had been destroyed, and with that his powers were negated.

"I think you've forgotten the meaning of the word invisible," Noah told her and shook her head. "I'm looking at you right now, Emma. I can see everyone. That's not invisibility."

"It makes sense, though," Emma argued. "Why else would Gia be acting this way?"

"Look, I'm doubtful something happened while we were out," Rebecca said with a shake of her head, "But I think it's more likely that something happened without me noticing than you guys being invisible. I can't actually see you, but I can hear you and touch you and my dolphin senses tell me exactly where you guys are."

"I can't explain it," Emma sighed, "But Gia woke up and I didn't say a word. She never even looked at me. Tensou kept insisting I was there and she refused to take his word for it."

"That doesn't mean we're the problem," Orion said. Noah nodded his head to agree.

"Tensou's looked us over. We're fine. And he can see us. Maybe we're invisible to Gia, but we're not..."

"How?" Emma asked. Noah shrugged his shoulders.

"That's why we're running tests."

Troy stood beside Emma and put his hand on her back. He looked at her, "I know you don't want to see anything happen to her, but we've got to look at the facts. Gia's... acting weird. We need to know why."

"But I..."

"Tensou's still running his tests," Troy said. "We'll know more once he's done."

Emma lowered her head and sighed in frustration. She wasn't getting anywhere with her friends and so decided to just storm off to her room to be alone. She had no proof that what she was saying was true, so she wanted to run over what she had seen again to be sure she hadn't missed anything.

While the others went back to what they were doing, Jake couldn't help but wonder about Emma's claim. She was usually pretty good at knowing what was going on with Gia and even if she wasn't right about him and the Rangers being invisible, there had to be some truth about it. After all, Gia's freaks outs always seemed to have her stating the others weren't around and they needed to come out of hiding.

So he walked below deck and stayed as quiet as he could. Gia was still restrained to the examination table while Tensou analysed her results on the computer. The little robot sighed, shook his head, and then walked over to Gia with another needle. He pricked her again, drew a little more blood, and then placed the sample in his computer. Jake looked to Gia, and saw his girlfriend staring up hopelessly at the ceiling. He could tell she had given up and that her trust had been shattered.

While Tensou's computer analyzed her blood, Tensou rolled back over to Gia and placed some kind of device on her chest. Jake had no idea what it was, but the way Tensou seemed to be moving it mostly around her left side, he figured the little robot was checking out her heart and making sure that the machine he had put in was still working. When he was done, he sighed again, shook his head and rolled back to his computer. He grabbed a bunch of wires and connected them to Gia's head. As he placed one on her forehead, Gia finally spoke.

"I'm not crazy."

"I'm sorry," Tensou answered. Gia rolled her eyes. Jake moved forward slightly, just to get a better look at what Tensou was doing. But by doing so, he stepped on a part of the floor that creaked. Tensou made nothing of it, likely because he knew Jake had walked into the room, but Gia jumped and looked around in a panic. Her eyes never settled on him, but moved constantly around the room.

"Who's there?" she asked. Jake opted not to make another sound. He wanted to see for himself what Emma had been talking about. "Stop it! Whatever you guys are doing, just stop! This isn't funny!"

Jake went to take a step back, but when he removed his foot from the creaky floor, it made another sound. Gia jumped again and nearly burst into tears.

"It's just Jake," Tensou told her and Jake almost wished the little robot hadn't said anything.

"No one's there!" Gia screamed at him. She pulled on her restraints. "There's nobody here but us. I'm not going crazy! I'm not losing it!"

"Gia..."

"Let me go!" she pulled on her restraints but Tensou had secured them well. Jake thought of letting her go, of allowing her to run off. He never liked it when she ran away. Not knowing where she was or if she was safe terrified him, but it was almost better to let her find her own safety than to keep her where she was obviously uncomfortable and scared.

However, Jake thought maybe Emma was onto something. Maybe the problem wasn't with Gia. At least, nothing internally. He walked back up to the deck and then into his room. Ryan was still down for her nap, but not for long. Jake turned on the light, waking the little girl. She seemed a little fussy to be pulled from her sleep but then set her sights on LT and suddenly wanted to play. She sat up in her crib, grabbed her beloved toy to cuddle it. Jake often saw her doing this in the morning. She was used to waiting for someone to pick her up from her crib and so often found a way to entertain herself.

While she played with LT, Jake walked up to the crib. He made sure not to sneak up on her and so always stayed within her line of sight, but keeping as quiet as possible. He walked all the way up to her without her even noticing him. He waved his hand in front of her face, but it was like he wasn't even there. He pressed his face up to the bars, but she didn't notice. He leaned in and made a funny face right in front of her. She didn't see him.

Then he called her name and she jumped, just like Gia had. She looked around for whoever could be in the room, but she saw no one. She seemed a little suspicious, but went back to playing with her toy. So Jake called her again. Ryan looked around, anxiously this time, and when she couldn't see anyone else in the room, she let out a cry. Jake knew he didn't have long before someone came to check up on her, but he was certain he had the proof he needed to argue for Emma's claim. He wanted everyone in the room. He wanted them to witness what he had seen. So he ran over to Noah's bed, picked up all the books the blue Ranger kept underneath and all at once he dropped them on the floor. They made a loud crashing sound that was sure to get the others thinking something had happened to Ryan.

And they had. The first person to run into the room was Troy, with Rebecca right behind him. They were panicked, but when they saw the books on the floor by his feet and Ryan safe, though crying, in her crib, they glared at him angrily.

"What the hell?" Troy asked. He started to walk towards the crib to grab his sister, but Jake stopped him. Noah and Orion came in at that point, followed by Emma.

"Don't touch her," Jake said as he stood between the red Ranger and the baby. Troy glared at him.

"You obviously scared her!"

"I know, but Emma's right."

"She is?" Rebecca asked.

"I am?" even Emma was sceptical, mostly about what would cause Jake to suddenly believe in her. Jake nodded his head and then turned around to Ryan. While a good cuddle was the most effective way of calming her down, funny faces and sounds sometimes worked just as well. Jake leaned in front of Ryan and started making the silliest faces he could come up with. Ryan didn't even look at him. She set her sights on Rebecca, and reached her arms out for her sister. Troy found this odd considering he was much closer to the crib than Rebecca was. Rebecca knew her sister was calling out for her and stepped in closer to pick her up, but Jake stopped her again. He stood right in front of the little girl to block her view of Rebecca, but somehow, Ryan seemed to be looking right at her sister. She started to scream louder and jump in her crib when Rebecca wouldn't comfort her.

"Jake, stop this," Troy said. He grabbed Ryan, but she wasn't calmed by his touch. Instead, it worked her up more. She screamed and protested in his arms, crying out still for Rebecca. Jake asked Rebecca to leave the room and she did so reluctantly. She hated to leave her sister, but if Jake was onto something, she didn't want to interfere. Rebecca walked out and Ryan's screamed grew louder.

"Put her down," Jake instructed Troy. The red Ranger was left with little choice. His sister wasn't happy to be in his arms so he did as he was asked. He put her down. Ryan screamed again as she ran to for the door. She hit it with her little hands and then tried to reach the door handle. She was just a little short, so her frustration grew. She screamed, stomped her feet and fell to the ground in a full blown tantrum. Troy rushed over to calm her down, but any time he touched her, she screamed and anytime he spoke to her, it only seemed to confuse and terrify her more. He was out of options, he didn't know what to do but believe Jake. He was invisible to his sister.

So he opened the door, let the anxious Rebecca back inside the room to comfort Ryan. Meanwhile, Jake and Emma hurried out and then below deck to find Gia. While Jake ripped away the wires from Gia's head, Emma undid the restraints. Tensou looked to them in shock.

"You're skewing with the results!" he cried out. When Gia saw she was free, she didn't hesitate to take off. Jake and Emma stayed with Tensou to explain themselves.

"There's nothing wrong with her."

"Not yet," Tensou muttered, "But my latest scan was just about to..."

"Come up empty," Emma shook her head. "Gia's right. You were both right, actually."

"Huh?"

"Tensou, how do you see?" Jake asked him. Tensou sighed.

"It's a complicated process. My optic sensors can detect light, heat, movements in the air..."

"Are your eyes like ours?"

"Similar," Tensou nodded, "But more sophisticated."

"So can you see things we can't?"

"Often times," Tensou nodded. "Why?"

Emma turned to Jake, "Tensou can see what's invisible to us, and Rebecca doesn't see. That explains it. Ryan and Gia would have been the only ones to know we were invisible."

Jake ran his hand through his hair and sighed loudly, "We're dead."

"But we beat the alien," Emma said. "If we beat him, doesn't that mean his powers wear off? If he struck us with anything, it shouldn't still be affecting us."

"So, wait, we're like, ghosts, right?" Jake asked. Emma frowned.

"We're invisible."

"Like ghosts?"

"We can't walk through walls."

"Have you tried?"

"We're not falling through the floor."

"I'm going to try," Jake said. He walked up to the closest wall and closed his eyes. He took a step forward and then bam! He walked straight into the wall. "Ow..." he whimpered as he rubbed his nose. Emma rolled her eyes.

"Are you done?"

"Okay, we can't walk through walls," he said. "But still, we're ghostly enough, right?"

"To Gia," Emma nodded. "And she hates ghosts, spirits, all that."

"He was kind of ghostly."

"Who?"

"The alien. Remember, he was white, kind of had those ghoulish chains, really emphasized his '_oo'_ sounds."

"I just thought he was a whack job like the others."

"Maybe we didn't destroy him," Jake pointed out. "I mean, we didn't have a Megazord battle..."

"We don't always," Emma shrugged.

"And there was no big explosion. Troy just sort of cut him down and he disappeared."

"Do you think he's invisible?"

"I think he pulled a fast one," Jake nodded his head. Emma groaned.

"Well, he accomplished one thing. After this, Gia's going to be real pissed off at all of us."

"What if we apologize and give her the pleading, innocent, sorry face?"

"She can't see our faces, Jake. We're invisible."

"Right..."

"We can't talk to Gia. We've got to keep our distance," Emma said. "If not, Gia surely going to lose it and Ryan's probably going to be scared of ghosts for life."

"So we wait for the alien ghost to come back, if he ever decides to, and in the meantime we don't talk to Gia?"

"We've freaked her out and she's pissed. Being invisible isn't going to help us out with any talk."

"What do we do then?" Jake asked. "Sit and twirl our thumbs?"

"We... find something," Emma shrugged.

Jake groaned and rolled his eyes, but then a thought occurred to him. He was invisible. With the naked eye, it seemed, no one could see him. And as long as he stayed quiet, no one would even know he was around. He smirked to Emma and then walked back up to the deck. She frowned.

"What? Where are you going? Don't you dare try to patch things up with Gia while you're still..."

"I'm not going to Gia," Jake shook his head. "Unlike you, some of us haven't seen our parents in months."

"Your mother was just..."

"Yeah, we all know how I feel about my mother," Jake said. "I'm going to find Noah. This invisibility thing might just have its perks."

"Just... be careful," Emma sighed. "Gia might be pissed, but if anything happens..."

"Em, I'm invisible," Jake chuckled. "No one's even going to know I'm around."

"That's what worries me," Emma said.


	6. The Trip Home

Noah knew he probably shouldn't have been doing this, but he couldn't stop himself. It had been months since he had last been home and finally he had a chance to go back.

As soon as the Rangers figured out for sure that they were invisible, Jake had suggested to Noah that they take advantage of their problem. Since they had faked their deaths to protect their parents and keep their identities as Rangers safe, Noah had been on his own. He hadn't seen or heard from his parents, and while most days he was distracted by his busy Ranger life, he couldn't keep himself from wondering how they were doing. Jake, despite having seen his mother recently, had also kept his distance from his father, and hadn't seen him since before his death. Jake was sure he would be devastated and so wanted to check up on him to see for himself that he was getting along.

The boys did agree to stick together, and because it had been much longer since Noah had seen either parent, they stopped by his home first. Noah still had a key on hand, but the boys knew they couldn't just walk through the door. Jake remembered how, when they were kids, he used to hop the fence and climb up a tree to Noah's bedroom window. They decided to get inside that way.

Noah was surprised to see his room was exactly how he had left it several months ago. His books were scattered on his desk, his bed made up, his clothes tucked neatly in his drawers. Even his laundry had been left untouched, likely because his mother didn't have the heart to wash anything that had his scent. It was still a part of him. The only thing different about his room was that the door was shut. Carefully, the boys opened it and tip toed into the hall. There, they could hear Noah's parents were downstairs in the kitchen, but there was a third voice.

"Jackpot," Jake smiled brightly when he recognized the voice belonged to his father. Their parents had been close so it wasn't usual that in this difficult time, they would visit each other. Noah led the way downstairs and he and Jake stood by the kitchen entrance and watched and listened to their parents.

"Things are going well?" Mrs. Carver asked as she worked by the stove. She turned her attention to Jake's father for a quick moment. He nodded his head.

"Slow, but we're seeing progress. I can't just forget she's married to someone else, though. Not to mention, every time I look at her, I see..."

"Jake?"

Mr. Holling nodded his head, "When I think of Jake too, I start to wonder, if this would really be what he wanted. Sally's turning around. She's owned up to a lot of her mistakes but... that poor girl."

"Gia?"

"Jake loved her. He loved her more than I ever thought he could ever love another girl. The way Sally treated her, how she didn't care that she made Jake happy... It's just, it's going to take some time. And I don't want to do anything that would have made Jake uncomfortable."

"At the end of the day, she was still his mother," Mrs. Carver said. "I'm sure, if he were here right now, he'd be happy to see the two of you at least trying to work it out."

She didn't know just how true her words were. Noah gently turned to Jake and nudged him. The green Ranger looked to his friend with a little smile and a tear. By the sound of it, his parents were getting along and his mother was trying to make up for the mean things she had done to Gia, and Jake by association. Jake knew his mother knew he was alive, and knew he was the green Ranger and that he was still madly in love with Gia, but she had kept her word about keeping his father in the dark. That already spoke volumes about how she was trying to change.

"Anyways," Mr. Holling said to quickly change the topic, "What are you making, Anna. It smells delicious."

"I'm finally getting around to making my famous sauce," Mrs. Carver said with a sad smile. Noah sniffed the air and his face lit up. He always loved his mother's pasta sauce. She would make it for him for birthdays, holidays, and celebrations. It was easily his favourite food and he would eat it on almost anything if given the option.

"Noah's favourite?" Mr. Holling asked. On the other side of the counter, Mr. Carver nodded his head.

"We figured it's about time," he said. "He's not coming back. We can't just keep living in the past. Noah would want us to move on."

"We hope he's not coming back," Mr. Holling said, only to earn questionable looks from both the Carvers. He raised an eyebrow. "Don't tell me you've already forgotten about the attack?"

"We don't think about it," Mr. Carver shook his head. "Just the thought of anything happening to Noah... I'd rather he rest in peace."

"Poor Claire, though," Mrs. Carver stated. Jake and Noah looked to each other curiously until it dawned on them. While the Rangers had been declared dead months ago, Princess Emma had unleashed a very public attack on the city, killing hundreds, if not thousands of people, and many cameras around the city had caught her face. She had been identified and was now wanted for murder and treason. Needless to say, it would have been a difficult time for Claire had she not been in the know about Emma's true identity. Of course, Jake's father and Noah's parents didn't know that, and were likely worried that because their kids all died at the same time, they had suffered a similar fate to Emma.

Noah's father shook his head, "Our boys wouldn't do it. They wouldn't turn their backs on us. They'd rather die, and unless they can come home, that's what I'd want for them. So as far as I'm concerned, the boys are gone."

Jake and Noah looked to each other sadly. It wasn't easy hearing their parents say they preferred them to be dead, but they knew what they meant. It was believed that the Armada had saved Emma from the attack that had supposedly killed her and her friends, and they had either convinced her or forced her to fight against her own planet. While many did believe her to be a danger to the city because of the magnitude of her invasion, some, like their parents, seemed to believe she had been left with no choice in order to preserve her own life.

Jake and Noah had been prisoners, though, and while they hadn't given up their lives rather than do the Armada's or Vrak's dirty work, if they were in their right minds, they would rather be dead that turn against their planet. They knew their parents were picking the better of two evils, and that only fueled their motivation to see the Armada destroyed, Vrak killed, and have everything go back to normal.

-Megaforce-

On the Sky Ship, Gia had locked herself in her bedroom. She still had no idea what was happening on the ship, all she knew was that she wanted to be alone. She hugged Tiger close to her chest as she sat in her bed. Suddenly, there was a knock at the door.

"Gia?" it was Rebecca. "Can we talk?"

Gia shook her head. She could see Rebecca. Everything was normal with her, but Rebecca hadn't believed her and had gone along with what seemed to be a horrible prank from the others. Until Gia could see her friends and get a really good explanation for what they had put her through, she didn't want to talk to anyone.

"Go away!"

"The guys are invisible."

"How would you know?"

"Uh... they told me?" Rebecca answered. She knocked again, "Look, can we please..."

"No!"

The doors didn't actually lock. Tensou refused to have them do so in case there was an emergency inside one of the bedrooms. The other Rangers only respected that Gia didn't want them intruding. However, Rebecca hoped she could get Gia's permission to go inside and so opened the door just a crack. Gia was about to shout something, but only saw Ryan come in. Then the door closed again. The little girl walked over to the bed and wanted to climb up with Gia.

"She's cute, but you're not coming in," Gia said as she lifted Ryan on the bed. The little girl started to play with Tiger, and that was when Gia saw there was a note taped to her back. Gia took it and recognized Emma's handwriting.

_Sorry_, it said. Gia scrunched it up and tossed it aside. It was then she heard Emma's voice through the door.

"I don't want to come in. I just want to talk."

"No."

"Tensou can see us. We can see each other. Rebecca can't see. We didn't know we were invisible. What we were to believe?"

Gia didn't answer so Emma sighed loudly.

"I know you're scared of ghosts and stuff but we're... just invisible. We're still us. This is just something to get used to until it goes away. Like you being a tiger."

"You locked me in a cage then too," Gia muttered. Emma seemed to lean against the door, but there was another knock and then Troy's voice.

"We didn't want to hurt or scare you," he said. "We're sorry about that."

"Whatever," Gia muttered and looked down at Ryan and Tiger, who were playing together peacefully. She didn't want to go out and face her friends just yet. Least of all when there was nothing to face.


	7. A Home Surrounded

Jake and Noah stayed with their parents through dinner, listening to them talk about how their lives were going. It felt good to know that their parents were doing well, but hadn't forgotten about them. When dinner was over, and it was about time to clear the plates, Jake's father needed to leave, which was the cue for Noah and Jake to take off as well. The boys walked up to Noah's bedroom and snuck out the window so as not to frighten their parents like they had already done to Gia and Ryan. As they dropped into the backyard, Jake turned to his best friend.

"At least they're sticking together."

"It's going to be a huge shock for them when we do come back to life," Noah said. "I don't think my mom will be able to handle it."

"We're in it now, though," Jake said. "We're just going to have to reveal ourselves carefully to them."

Jake gave Noah a boost over the fence and waited until he heard his best friend crash on the other side. Noah had trained to improve his fighting skills, as well as his agility, balance, and speed, but hopping a fence still seemed to be a struggle for him. Jake didn't have the same problem and pulled himself up without any problem. However, he did bump into a huge problem on his way down. He looked out at the street and saw Vekar and the Armada had Noah's home surrounded. Countless X-Borgs lined the street, ready to fight, while Vekar, Levira, Damaras and Argus stood in the center.

"Rangers, so glad to see you," Vekar smirked. Noah and Jake looked around, but they were the only ones present. They didn't know how, but Vekar could see them. "It looks like you've led me right where I need to be. X-Borgs, you know what to do!"

Before Jake and Noah could even think to grab their morphers, the X-Borgs moved in. However, they showed no interest in going after the boys. They were moving towards the house. Jake felt his heart stop and Noah felt panic spread throughout his body when they realized Vekar was going after their parents.

"Call for help!" Jake shouted to Noah as he morphed quickly and tried to keep the X-Borgs away from the door. Noah pressed the distress button on his morpher as he joined the action to keep the aliens away from the kitchen window, but the house was surrounded and there was more than two ways in. The two boys heard a window smash and then Noah's mother screaming.

Fortunately, they weren't alone for long. The Sky Ship appeared overhead and the Rangers descended. Even Gia, who had locked herself in her room, refused to sit back. They all recognized Noah's house and knew the danger.

"Dad's inside too!" Jake cried out. Gia couldn't see him, but she knew he was panicked. His voice said it all. Unlike her, though, the X-Borgs and the rest of the Armada seemed to be able to see her teammates. The X-Borgs were holding them off rather well and Vekar, Damaras, Levira, and Argus were taking some enjoyment out of the fight. It was Gia's only sign that her team was overwhelmed. She couldn't actually see for herself how they were doing.

But that wasn't her first concern. Jake had alerted her that his father was in danger, and given this was Noah's parents home, they were likely in trouble as well. They wouldn't be able to see the other Rangers coming in to help them, and were more than likely to panic at the sight of invisible Rangers and familiar voices, so she took it upon herself to enter the house. The X-Borgs were everywhere, trashing the home and searching for the Carvers and Mr. Holling. Gia assumed that in home invasion, they had fled upstairs. She blasted through the X-Borgs climbing the stairs and made her way up. She saw there was only one room down the hallway where the door was closed and ran there. She didn't know how to introduce herself, and didn't think Jake's father and Noah's parents would open the door to anyone so she kicked it down. She saw them huddled together inside the bathroom, terrified now that the door, their only protection, had come down.

"It's just me," Gia said and was grateful when it seemed none of them could recognize her voice. "I'll get you out of here."

"What do they want with us?" Mr. Carver asked her. Gia shook her head. She knew exactly what Vekar was going for but couldn't tell them. Instead, she told them all to grab her arm. She knew there was only one place they would be safe. When she felt they all had a hand on her, she pulled out her morpher.

"Everyone retreat now!"

"Retreat?" Troy asked. "But Gia..."

"You heard me. Retreat!"

Then, she teleported herself, Mr. Holling and the Carvers. She expected her team to go to the Sky Ship, but she opted for somewhere else. She knew Jake and Noah would be worried for their parents, but didn't want to risk their identities being revealed. She knew as soon as the parents heard their son's voice, even if they weren't visibly present, they would get suspicious, if not all around panicked.

However, Troy had already blown her cover. He had called her by her name through the morpher. While the parents still seemed panicked about the sudden attack, Gia was sure everything would sink in eventually and would rather address her identity now than have them question it later.

So she teleported home, and made sure to safely arrive in her living room instead of the yard, so no one would see her appear. The parents dropped to the ground while Gia landed on her feet. Immediately, she rushed to the window and closed the curtains.

The house was dark. Her mother and Claire had moved out months ago, but Mr. and Mrs. Carver and Mr. Holling recognized the home immediately. They had spent their last Christmas in the home. Mr. Holling was the first to put two and two together while Gia walked to the kitchen to get the first aid kit. Jake's father had a gash on his leg that needed to be looked at and she wasn't about to ignore the fact that the Carvers had also likely suffered injuries in their retreat.

Gia, still as the yellow Ranger, brought the first aid kit back to the living room and saw Mr. Holling looking to her. She sighed.

"Before you say anything..."

"Gia?"

Gia removed her helmet. The Carvers both gasped. Mr. Holling wasn't sure what to do.

"You're... the yellow Ranger?" Mr. Carver asked. Gia nodded her head.

"Who would have thought, right?"

"But... but you're... you died," Mrs. Carver stated. "It was all over the news. That attack, you never came home. The boys..."

"Our boys..."

"I'm the yellow Ranger. That's all you need to know," Gia shook her head. She opened the first aid kit and then pointed to Mr. Holling's leg. "I'll have a look at that."

"How long?" he asked.

"You don't want to know," she answered, but she could feel the glares from all three parents. She wasn't sure how much Jake and Noah wanted them to know so she didn't feel comfortable sharing. However, they didn't give her much choice. They were desperate for answers. "About a year and a half."

"A... a..."

"That's when the Rangers first appeared in the city," Mr. Carver stated. He looked to Gia, "Wait, that means..."

"We kind of switched uniforms," Gia nodded her head. "You know, higher stakes, more power."

"And you've been the yellow Ranger this whole time? But that explosion... where you died..."

"I didn't die. I mean, almost but..." Gia sighed loudly. "A former Ranger came to our aid and helped us come up with the plan to fake our deaths. It would make it easier to be Rangers without... well, getting grounded and stuff."

"Rangers get grounded?"

"Yeah," Gia nodded her head and recalled the time her mother had actually grounded her from Rangering after she had broken her arm.

"The defenders of the planet get grounded?" Mrs. Carver asked again. Gia nodded her head and wondered how long it would take them to ask about their sons. After all, Jake and Noah had died at the same time she had.

"Wait, so if a former Ranger helped you... are you fighting against Emma?" Mr. Holling asked her.

"Against... no," Gia shook her head. "Emma's not a villain."

"But what she did to the city..."

"Vekar, the prince of the Armada, brainwashed her. Look, it's complicated, but Emma's on our side. She still has nightmares about what she did."

"So, the aliens didn't rescue her?"

"Rescue? Vekar doesn't know the meaning of the word rescue," Gia rolled her eyes. She placed a bandage over Mr. Holling's leg and then inspected the Carvers for wounds. They had some scratches and cuts, but nothing that seemed to need immediate attention. She started to pack up the first aid kit. "Emma's... kind of one of us."

"Is she pink?" Mr. Carver asked. Gia nodded.

"Yes."

"So, if you're supposed to be dead, and Emma's supposed to be dead... what about the others?" Mrs. Carver asked. "Jake and Noah, specifically."

"Mrs. Carver..."

"What happened?" she raised her voice slightly. Gia winced.

"I..."

"What happened to my son?"

"No one died in that attack," Gia shook her head. "At least, none of us did."

"You mean..."

Gia nodded her head slowly and then proceeded to tell them everything they needed to know. Mrs. Carver started to sob while her husband held her. Mr. Carver seemed furious. Mr. Holling didn't know what to do with himself and played with his hands the entire time Gia spoke.


	8. Hero Sons

Jake kicked the side of the ship as he fumed. He couldn't believe the stunt Vekar had pulled and was furious at how it all worked out. Rebecca walked up behind him.

"I'm sure they're safe," she said, assuming Jake was just letting off some steam because despite Gia's order to retreat, she hadn't yet returned to the ship and there was no news on how his father or Noah's parents were doing.

"I trust her," Jake growled. "It's that no good whiny, manipulative, arrogant son of a bitch I'm having a problem with."

Jake kicked the side of the ship again, "I never should have gone to see them. This was probably his plan all along. Or worse, I probably just gave him the idea when I fucking went to see my dad!"

"Jake..."

"He has to stay out of this," Jake turned around to face Rebecca. "You know how dangerous it is just to be on the sidelines. I mean, look at you!"

"I can't."

"Exactly!" Jake cried. He turned back around and leaned against the side. "Dad's always been there for me. He's always supported me. He was a little nervous when he knew Gia's baggage, but he let me make my own decisions. He believed in me. I can't afford to lose that. I can't live the rest of my life worrying Vekar's going to come after him."

"Well, if it helps, it's not like your dad would have even seen you or Noah. You're invisible, remember?"

"That doesn't stop Vekar going after him," Jake said. "Just... leave me alone."

Rebecca nodded her head and left Jake with his thoughts while she walked over to the other side of the ship. She touched Noah's shoulder, just to confirm it was him. When she felt the collar of his polo, she knew she had the right person and sat down, leaning against him lightly.

"It's going to be okay."

"I hated lying to them," Noah shook his head. "I hated sneaking around, pretending I wasn't doing something I was and just... not being honest with them. But I'd take that over this."

"You're scared Vekar's going to keep going after them?"

"How am I going to sleep at night knowing everyone I love is now on Vekar's or Vrak's radar?" Noah asked. He put his arm around Rebecca. "I'm still horrified by what Vrak did to you, and you're still alive. I can still protect you. I can't bring my parents on board the ship. I can't look after them every day. I don't even want them knowing the truth. Not until the danger's passed."

"You're pretty smart. You'll figure something out. Not to mention, Vekar's not going to know what hit him if he tries this again," Rebecca put her hand in his and smiled, "You're getting a lot stronger."

"Not like the others..."

"Strength is about more than how tough you look," Rebecca told him. "It's about how far you're willing to go before you give up, if you ever even do. You're brains and brawn now. You're got the muscle to beat the Armada, and you've got the brains to do it the most efficient way. You're an amazing hero."

"I can't even keep the people I love out of harm's way."

"No one here can," Rebecca chuckled. "I know about you guys. Gia's parents found out. Claire knows, Jake's mom knows. You kept your secret the longest. You went this long without your parents figuring out who you really were. And they're still around. Troy didn't tell his parents and look what happened to them."

"Rebecca..."

"Ignorance isn't what makes the difference between whether or not we're safe. Besides, Troy said when Vekar launched those missiles, he had the others set for your homes anyways. He's likely always known where to go."

"Then why attack today? Why not do so earlier?"

"Bad guys don't always have plans that make sense. I mean, Vekar's got a pretty good set of commanders on his ship. He can use them to wipe the floor with all your asses, yet he sends out little aliens that aren't as strong to get the job done. And it's not just Vekar. Malkor did it too. And every other Ranger team. I mean, if the big bad just fought the Rangers the first time they ever morphed, they'd have probably taken over the planet already."

"Rebecca, seriously..."

"Look, I don't know why Vekar decided to attack now. Maybe he's got a plan up his sleeve; maybe he's just tired of losing and decided to hit us where it hurts. All that matters is your parents are safe."

"We don't know."

"Gia's got them. She wouldn't have called a retreat unless she did. And we trust her, right?"

"She's pretty pissed with us."

"You think she'll let that get in the way of being a Ranger," Rebecca shook her head. "Nope. Not Gia. She's a professional. The only life she endangers is her own."

Noah chuckled. Rebecca put her arm around him.

"This will work out. Your parents, no matter what happens, will be fine. Take it from me, it kind of sucks being in danger all the time, but at least when there is trouble, I'm better prepared to take action. Whether that's kicking butt myself, or hiding behind one of you guys. You know, whatever works."

Noah chuckled again and kissed the side of Rebecca's head. She nestled in closer.

"Don't worry about this too much. You're a good Ranger. Even after what happened I still... I know I can count on you."

"You do? But I thought..."

"It was one mistake and I know how hard it's been for you. You're there when it matters. You're still my hero."

Rebecca pulled him in for a kiss and Noah couldn't help but smile.

-Megaforce-

Mrs. Carver held her head in her hands. It had been almost an hour since she had found out her son was the blue Ranger but she was still struggling to believe it. She loved him dearly, but was not blind to who her son was. He wasn't a jock. He wasn't a fighter. Her little boy was still just a little boy. The only subject in school he ever struggled in was gym class. He didn't have the same strength or endurance as the other boys his age. Hell, even some girls could play around him in most sports. Noah was more content in his lab he built in their garage or reading books that he was doing anything athletic. While she had noticed before his death that his muscles had built up somewhat, she just took that as Noah taking a little better care of his appearance. He had a few more friends, some of which were girls, and assumed they were having a positive influence on them. It never once occurred to her that her son, her little Einstein, could ever be a Power Ranger.

But Gia, the yellow Ranger, had no reason to lie about that. She had come clean about herself, her teammates, and some of the struggles they face, and even admitted that her father hadn't died suddenly from an illness, but that he had been murdered by one of the aliens the Rangers were still holding off.

Mrs. Carver didn't know how to feel. She was terrified her son was in such a dangerous position, but proud. After all, he was one of the beloved and heroic Power Rangers, and despite her disbelief that it was possible, he had saved thousands if not millions of lives and successfully defeated many of the threats the city had seen.

"I'm really sorry," Gia whispered. "Our mentor, Gosei, really insisted it was best we kept our identities from everyone. My parents were the first to find out, but not because I told them."

"Noah... really..."

"He's great," Gia nodded. She looked to both of Noah's parents. "He's really grown into his role. He's saved our lives so many times, he can figure out what the aliens are doing, and his training is really working for him. He's not the scrawny little kid he was when we were first recruited. Um... no offence."

"We know who our son was," Mr. Carver nodded. He too was in disbelief about the news and very unsure how to take it. Gia could see their apprehension and smiled.

"Noah's not my first choice for a hero, but he was chosen for a reason. You guys know my story. You know how hard it is for me to reach out to people. Noah's someone I never really doubted. He's still the smallest guy on our team, but he's a real hero. He's stood up for me a couple of times already. I mean, Cliff's always been at least twice his size, and Noah's never backed down. You can count on him. You know he's always trying his best and pushing himself to do better."

"Really?"

"You would be so proud of him," Gia nodded. "And he's sorry, we're all sorry we pretended to be dead. I can't even begin to imagine what that must have been like for you, but we didn't do it to hurt you. We were trying to..."

"Protect us?" Mr. Carver asked. Gia nodded her head.

"He's been looking forward to seeing you again. He doesn't talk about you much, but we all know he's missed you. If you want to, I can take you up to the Sky Ship. You can't see him. That's a long story, but he's there. You can talk to him. You can even hold him, though awkwardly."

"What do you mean?"

"My friends are kind of... invisible. Don't push it. It's a sore point with me right now."

"You'll really take us to your Space Ship?"

"Sky Ship," Gia nodded. "Yeah. Noah can chew my head off later for telling you guys everything, but I'm sure he'll be happy to see you."

"We'd like that," the Carvers answered. Gia smiled and then assured them she would take them up soon. After she had a talk with Mr. Holling. He had left the living room to process the news of Jake being a Ranger by himself. Gia found him sitting on the stairs. He looked up at her.

"What?"

"Jake didn't mean to hurt you. He misses you, probably as much as you miss him."

"He's not dead."

"If it makes you feel any better, he was almost dead so many times since."

Mr. Holling glared at Gia. She sighed.

"Yeah, it probably doesn't. Look, Mr. Holling..."

"How is any of this okay? My son's a Power Ranger? He fakes his death... Does he have any idea what I went through because of that?"

"Heartache?"

"Gia..."

"Mr. Holling, Jake's..."

"I just need a minute," Mr. Holling said. "I still can't believe all this. My boy, my son's a Power Ranger. Black and Green. So all those times I saw him on TV, every time I heard he was hurt... that was him?"

Mr. Holling then looked up at Gia, "Does that mean... Jake's accident, when those football players beat him up and he was all but dead... did you Rangers have something to do with his miraculous recovery?"

"Tensou put some chips in his brain to restore brain function and mobility," Gia nodded her head. "It... kind of brought him back to life. But it's still a miracle. Mr. Holling, please don't be mad with him. Jake never asked for this. None of us did."

"But all this time..."

"He hated the lies. He hated that this was a secret. We all did. But Jake's an amazing Ranger, and knowing he had you to come home to after this was over really pushed him to keep fighting. He's been trying to protect you. He really loves you, Mr. Holling."

Mr. Holling sighed as he looked down. Gia could see tears in his eyes. She sat next to him.

"You've raised an incredible man. And I'm not just saying that because I love him. Jake's really amazing. There's something special about him that I've never seen in anyone else. I know you're scared for him. I know you don't want to lose him, but he was chosen to be a Ranger for a reason. He's got what it takes and more to see this through, and now that you know, he'd really love to have your support. You mean a lot to him."

"Is he really..."

"He's great. When you see him, you're going to be really proud."

"Can I see him? Can I talk to him?"

"Well, I was just telling Mr. and Mrs. Carver, seeing him might be a bit of a problem..."

"Gia, please. I have to..."

"He's invisible. Don't ask me why, I'm... curious myself, but you can talk to him. He's still Jake. Just... see through."

"I don't care. He's my son. Please, I want to see him."

"I'll take you," Gia smiled. She walked him back to the living room and then teleported him and the Carvers on the ship. She only saw Rebecca, but heard the footsteps of the others approaching. Suddenly, the Carvers and Mr. Holling were pushed back as Jake and Noah called out for their parents and took them in a hug. Gia was happy to see the families reunited but only for a moment. When she was sure she wasn't needed, she stormed off to her room. She almost made it, but bumped into someone. She crossed her arms.

"Get out of my way."

"Gia, please," it was Emma. "Can we just talk about this?"

"There's nothing to talk about."

"You'd have done the same," Emma said. "We were just worried about you..."

"I don't care about that," Gia shook her head. "I care about everything else. You assuming I'm the one losing my mind, just like always."

"Gia..."

"Tying me down, keeping me against my will..."

"We didn't want you running off. You know what happens."

"Tensou was down there poking and studying me like I'm a nutcase..."

"We just..."

"But you know what really hurts?"

Emma sighed, "Milk?"

"That's supposed to be my safety."

"And it is. We weren't going to hurt you. You know we never will."

"I also thought you'd never ignore milk," Gia growled. "Look, maybe it's just all one big joke to you..."

"It's not a joke! I take it seriously. I promise."

"You ignored it. You ignored me. I begged you to stop. I begged for this to stop."

"We can't stop being invisible. We didn't even know."

"You could have let me up! I was scared, I was scared of all of you, but you just... you did whatever you wanted anyways."

"You gave us no choice!"

"That's what your brother would have said!" Gia shouted. She couldn't see it, but Emma's face fell. Gia brushed her aside to lock herself back in their bedroom. Emma didn't have it in her to follow or to try and talk to Gia anymore. Instead, she dropped to her knees. Troy and Orion were quickly by her side.

"She's just angry," Troy assured her. Emma shook her head.

"She's... she's never said that before."

"What do you mean?"

"Since we found out," Emma said. "Gia's never... she's... she's..."

"She's angry," Troy reminded her. Orion nodded.

"People say things they don't mean all the time on Andrasia when they're angry. Here too, I guess."

"But... but..."

"Let's just... not push it," Troy suggested. He helped Emma to her feet. "We'll go to the kitchen and wait for her to calm down."


	9. Rebecca Meets The Parents

Jake and Noah had taken their parents to their bedroom to talk privately. There was a lot to catch up on even though Gia had covered most of the basic. There were many apologies, lots of hugs and a whole lot of questions for the boys, but eventually, everyone settled down. However, there was one problem that was difficult to ignore. Mr. Carver shifted uncomfortably on the bed as he tried to figure out how to look his invisible son in the eyes.

"So, the latest monster..."

"Stuff like this happens on the time," Jake assured him. "Really, invisibility is the easiest thing we've have to deal with."

"It is?" his father asked. Jake chuckled.

"Vekar turned us into old men once. I am not excited for old age."

"Old men?"

"I was a shark once," Noah said. He sat the fearful look from his parents and laughed. "It's fine. Everyone got me back to normal before anything bad happened."

"I was a snake for a little while too," Jake said. "Granted, I was going to be used for evil, but that's not the point."

"Okay... this is all a little..."

"Freaky," Mrs. Carver stated. "I don't think we're going to like hearing these stories."

"There's a lot to tell you, mom," Noah said with a smile, despite the fact that his mother couldn't see it. "So far, it's ended with us winning, and we plan on keeping that streak going throughout the entire war."

"How long is this going to last?" his father asked. Noah shrugged.

"We're not sure. Every team's a little different. The Samurai Rangers before us had two years, other teams have had more, some were just Rangers for about a year. It really depends on when Vekar and Vrak decided to try the do or die approach."

"In the meantime, you can't just... force their hand or use one of those big robot thingies and step on their monsters or..."

"Our Powers are a lot more complicated than that," Noah explained. "The Zords require a lot of energy, and the Megazord takes even more. If we were to summon it to squash a regular sized monster and then fight him again when he's huge, if the Armada were to send down another monster even a day later, we wouldn't have enough power to hold him off for long."

"Really? But you're the Power Rangers."

"Powers have their limits. Nothing's infinite."

"Noah's got all this complicated stuff figured out," Jake said. "I kind of just do what I'm told."

"Most of the time," Noah smirked.

Their parents looked not at them, but it was close enough given they were invisible. Jake's father spoke up again.

"So Jake, it looks like you've made dating work out through all of this. Unless you and Gia..."

"Going strong. Well, right now's not a good time but... that's complicated too," Jake said. "But she and I are still good."

"So you've made it work?"

"I'm working hard. So is she. Being Rangers is kind of a hindrance and a help. Sometimes it pushes us closer together and other times, we've really got to fight hard for what we've got."

"I'm really happy to hear that," Mr. Holling smiled. Jake was happy too, but he was quick to take the attention away from himself. Everyone knew one day he would find a girl and settled down. It wasn't really news that he and Gia were still together. The real big news was how Noah had grown. Jake put his arm around his best friend and smirked.

"But Noah's got some exciting news, don't you, Noah?"

"I do?"

"You do?" his parents were suddenly very interested. They could hear from Jake's tone that the news was good.

"Tell them, Noah. Tell them how there's a certain girl you've got your eye on."

"What? I don't... oh, you mean..." Noah started to blush a deep shade of red as he turned to his parents. "Um... well... there is..."

"A girl!" his mother cried out excitedly. "You've got a crush? On a girl!"

"Mom..."

"Who is she? Where did you meet? Does she know? Have you asked her out?"

"Mom..."

"Anna, settle down," Mr. Caver took his wife's hands. "You're going to terrify the poor boy."

"He's not terrified," Mrs. Carver shook her head. "Oh, Noah, I'm so happy for you! You've got to tell me who she is. I can't wait to meet her!"

"Actually, you already have," Noah said. His mother looked curious.

"I have? Who? It's not Emma, is it?"

"No, she's engaged to Jordan and... wait, what's wrong with Emma?" Noah frowned. His mother shook her head.

"Nothing, I just... it's hard to get past the whole her trying to take over the world thing."

"Um, Mrs. Carver, we told you how Vekar brainwashed her," Jake said.

"No, no, I know. I just... Oh, just tell me, who is she? Who's the lucky girl?"

"It's... well, it's Rebecca."

"Rebecca?" Mr. Holling frowned while Mrs. Carver squealed excitedly. "Wait, Carl's girl? Jake, your step-sister?"

"The one and only," Jake nodded and gently nudged Noah again. "They've been dating for a few months now. It's getting pretty serious."

"And I've missed it!" Mrs. Carver cried out. "Noah, you have to tell me all about it! Actually, get her in here."

"Mom, I don't think she wants to..."

"I barely know her," Mrs. Carver said. "And she's the first girl my little boy's had a crush on. Please, Noah. I'll try not to embarrass you."

"It's too late for that," Noah muttered as he got up and walked to the door. Rebecca was sitting outside playing with Ryan and Tiger, but left them to their game when Noah called her over. She walked in and before she knew what had happened, Mrs. Carver hugged her.

"What did I do?" she asked over her shoulder to Noah. The blue Ranger lowered his head and sighed.

"Mom, you can't just... can you let her go please?"

"I'm so happy to hear you're dating my little boy!" Mrs. Carver said. Noah groaned.

"Mom!"

"Am I meeting the parents?" Rebecca frowned. She turned to Noah, "Hold up, this isn't fair! You can't just spring this on me!"

"She insisted," Noah shrugged his shoulders. "My mom's not to be argued with."

"I'm just so excited," his mother said. Mr. Carver walked over to pull her away from Rebecca.

"Why don't we just talk about this?" he asked. He sat down with his wife and then looked to Rebecca. It was only then he noticed there was something strange about her eyes. He frowned and now was no longer sure how to talk to her. Noah quickly noticed the way his father, then his mother, and then Mr. Holling clamped up when they looked at Rebecca and took it upon himself to explain.

"A recent attack left her blind," he stated and put his arm around her. "It's... that's kind of why we didn't want you guys getting involved. It's dangerous."

"Rebecca..."

"I'm okay," Rebecca smiled. "I'm being optimistic. Plus, Master Swoop kind of helped me unleash my dolphin senses, so I'm learning how to manage it."

"Your dolphin senses?" Mr. Carver asked. Noah rolled his eyes.

"I really wish this happened under different circumstances."

"I'm having a blast," Jake smirked. "Hey, Rebecca, why don't you tell Mr. and Mrs. Carver all about how you and Noah first started going out."

"Oh, that's a funny story!" Rebecca smiled and Mrs. Carver seemed to grow excited again as well. Noah turned to Jake.

"I hate you."

"I don't care," Jake laughed and then listened as Rebecca told Noah's mother all about how nervous and shy Noah felt about asking her out, and Mrs. Carver's responses was always to smile, touch her heart, and then make some comment that would embarrass Noah.


	10. Absolute Trust

"_That's what your brother would have said!"_

Her voice echoed in her head as Gia tried to rest. No matter what, she couldn't shake it.

"_That's what your brother would have said!"_

It was a low blow, a very low blow even considering the circumstances. Gia was disgusted with herself but still so angry with Emma.

"_That's what your brother would have said!"_

But more disgusted. As the echo repeated in her head, getting louder and louder and hurting her more and more, she knew she wouldn't be able to rest. However, she couldn't leave her room. She was still scared. The supernatural, even before Cliff had tainted Halloween, had always scared her. She had always been tough and fearless against opponents she could see, often taking on kids twice her size and age usually after they picked on Emma. But when it came to the supernatural, to things and people she couldn't see or control, she felt insecure.

She also didn't like tricks. Cliff and his friends had played enough of them on her that they always left a bad taste in her mouth. She hated being made fun of and being deceived. She still had no idea why she would assume her friends would prank her and take the joke as far as it went but she had hated it and she was angry with them for having done it.

On top of that, she hated how the whole thing played out. Realistically, her friends had no idea at the time that they were invisible. Tensou had scanners that could detect them, so he obviously saw nothing out of the ordinary. Ryan was still too young to speak, and Rebecca was blind. Gia insisting they weren't present when they knew they were had to look odd, but the fact that they argued with her and insisted she was the one with the problem opened up too many wounds. She was always the problem. She was always the one that needing fixing or that needed to be put in her place.

"_That's what your brother would have said!"_

But her words haunted her more than any spirit or ghost or her past ever could. Unable to take her mind off it, she pulled herself out of bed and stepped out on the deck. Ryan and Tiger were playing together gently on the blanket but no one else was around. Not that Gia could see anyways. So she called out.

"Emma?"

She didn't hear an answer. Either Emma was giving her the silent treatment or she wasn't on the deck. Gia had no way of knowing.

"Emma, you don't have to talk to me, but please let me know if you're here or not," Gia said and hugged herself. This invisibility thing was freaking her out, but until she could at least apologize she couldn't go back to her room.

Not hearing a response, Gia hoped that meant Emma wasn't on the deck. She could hear Noah, Jake, their parents and Rebecca talking in the boy's bedroom and doubted Emma would join there. She assumed if Emma had been up on the bridge or the bow, she would have heard her, so Gia decided to try the kitchen next. When she opened the door and saw a floating mug of hot chocolate and a plate of cookies on the table, she figured she had found someone.

"Um... is Emma here?"

The mug seemed to point to the table. Gia turned.

"Emma?"

"What?"

Gia heard the kitchen door close and jumped. She glanced over to the door and then groaned, "Can you guys please not sneak around me like that?"

"It's just us."

"Who was in here?"

"Troy and Orion. They left. What do you want?"

"It wouldn't make you feel better if you heard me call myself the biggest bitch on this ship, would it?"

"Is that all?"

"Emma... I'm sorry."

Emma sighed and pushed the plate of cookies away. Seeing them move on their own sent shivers up Gia's spine, but she resisted her urge to flee. An apology wasn't enough.

"I didn't mean it," she said. Emma huffed.

"It's sounded pretty sincere."

"Well, it wasn't. You're my sister, not Cliff's. And if he or anyone has something to say about that, they'll have to say it to my face."

"Gia, it's not what you said, it's that you said it," Emma told her. "You said something that you knew would hurt me."

"I'm really sorry," Gia whispered. "And you have every right to be mad."

"I'm not mad."

"You're not?" Gia frowned. She tried to look at where she thought Emma was sitting. "Um... sorry but it's kind of hard to tell you when I can't see your face."

Suddenly, something took her hand. Gia jumped up and back, pushing Emma away before she realized it was just her best friend. She sighed. "Please don't do that."

"Sorry," Emma chuckled. "Gia, I'm upset. Ever since we found out about Cliff..."

"I swear, that means nothing," Gia insisted. "I just said that to hurt you. I didn't mean it. I'm..."

"Can I talk?"

"I'm sorry."

"Ever since we found out, I've... I've felt like I have to work harder just to prove that, you know... I'm nothing like him."

"But you're not."

"But I don't feel that way. I wish I never found out about my dad. I'd rather dad be my dad than Mr. Morris, and after all he put me through, that's saying a lot."

"My dad is your dad," Gia said. "That's all I see."

"It's not what I see. It's just... it's been hard but at least you... at least I had you. The others could say what they wanted. You mattered."

"And then I go and say that."

"I don't want to be like Cliff. I'm not trying to be like him. I'm trying to do everything he wouldn't do," Emma took Gia's hand again. The yellow Ranger jumped, but she didn't push Emma away. "You can't keep being scared. I'm not going to hurt you. I'm not going to let anything hurt you. Whether you call out for milk or not, you have to know I've got your back."

"But milk..."

"Words fail," Emma said. "I'm not saying you can't still use it but... if you're going to stay like this you leave me no choice but to ignore it. Sometimes, I do know better than you. You're not always the smartest between the two of us."

"I'm not broken. I'm not crazy."

"I know, but what if... what if the roles were reversed. You were me and I was you in everything. If I had called milk, would you have told Jake to let me go?"

Gia turned her head away as a tear came to her eye. Emma squeezed her hand.

"I like milk. I still want you to use it. I still want you to have that control. You still need it. But it's me, Gia. I'm not going to hurt you. I never have and I promise, I never will. I know I was wrong. Something was wrong with us, not you and I'm sorry about that. But you have to trust me. If you're going to trust anyone by now, haven't I earned it?"

"I do trust you."

"I mean completely," Emma said. "Not just as someone you can talk to. Not just someone you feel safe around. I mean absolutely, without a doubt, one hundred percent trust. Like, if I blindfolded you near a cliff, and told you to keep walking straight, you'd go as far as I told you."

"Am I walking towards the cliff or away?"

"Does it matter? I'm telling you where to go," Emma said. She squeezed Gia's hand again. "I'd go as far as you'd tell me. I'd take every step confidently. I know you'd never let anything bad happen to me. Do you feel the same?"

"You're never actually going to blindfold me near a cliff, are you?"

"What, with your track record around them?" Emma chuckled. "No way. I'm just saying."

"Yes."

"You'd trust me?"

"Yeah. I do. And I really am sorry I called Cliff your brother."

"I'm sorry we made you think you were crazy. And that we chased you down. And pinned you down. Sedated you, restrained you, and let Tensou perform all those tests on you. Um... can we just call it even?"

"Only in the Ranger life is this even," Gia muttered and rolled her eyes. Then she frowned. "Um, this would be the part where I would open up for a hug, but I kind of have no idea where you are anymore so..."

"I'll hug you," Emma chuckled and wrapped her arms around Gia.


	11. Somewhere Safe

Jake and Noah couldn't send their parents back home. Noah's house was surely trashed, if not completely gone from the attack, and Jake didn't feel confident sending his father back to his house. Vekar had targeted them, and the Rangers knew the parents wouldn't be safe until they were out of the city.

Unfortunately, finding a safe place for their parents to go was tough, and it was going to have to wait a little longer as the alarms rang. An alien was spotted again in the city, and from the sensors, the Rangers were sure it was the ghost monster they thought they had defeated. However, for Gia, getting rid of the monster wasn't going to be as simple as winning the battle. Her entire team was invisible to her. Even morphed, she couldn't see where they were standing. It meant she risked putting her friends in danger. Even when her teammates were visible, there was always a risk of bumping, kicking, hitting, or accidentally shooting each other. Gia didn't want to see any of those accidents happen due to carelessness and so pulled Rebecca aside.

"How confident are you today?" she asked. Rebecca frowned.

"Huh?"

"I can't see the others," Gia stated. "That means everyone's in danger."

"So are you..."

"Only if you're okay with it," Gia nodded. She put her morpher in Rebecca's hand. "Only if you think you can get the job done. You don't need to see the others. You've got your echolocation."

"Dolphin senses," Rebecca smiled and then shook her head. "But I'm not a Ranger. And Troy and Noah..."

"They'll cover you," Gia said. "That monster's got an odd shape. You'll know who he is. The X-Borgs have the helmet heads and they'll be attacking you. Just don't hit anyone that sounds remotely human."

"Do you really think I can do this?"

"Better than me right now," Gia nodded. "I'll find a safe place for Jake and Noah's parents. You lead the team."

"Lead?" Rebecca asked and her face lit up. "As in I'm in charge?"

"I don't want the Armada to know it's you in this fight," Gia said. "You've got to play me, only better. You have to keep the others safe. I can't see them. I can't risk accidently hurting them."

"You think I can play you? But I'm not... I mean..."

"Rebecca, Gosei would have chosen you to be a Ranger if the morpher hadn't disappeared. Obviously he knows something we don't and as crazy as it sounds, I trust him. You can be a Ranger. You can win this fight. Just stay focused, breathe, remember what Swoop taught you and have fun. The others will keep you safe."

"Okay," Rebecca smiled. She held Gia's morpher tight in her hands and then talked to the others to explain the sudden change of Ranger. Gia watched and saw the looks Troy and Noah were pointing her way but had to ignore them for now. She was sure Rebecca would be fine. The suit would protect her.

Gia sent the Rangers off and then turned to Jake's and Noah's parents. She saw they were trying to hold back tears, knowing this would be the last time they would see their sons for a while. Gia felt badly for them but knew what had to be done.

"I'll take you somewhere safe," she told them and the four of them teleported off the ship and into the backyard of what appeared to be just a regular house. Gia looked around carefully before she walked up to the door and knocked. It was the back door, so she was sure it would take a little longer for someone to show up. Eventually, someone did, but it wasn't who Gia expected. As the door slid open she frowned deeply.

"Jordan?"

"Gia?" he asked with just as deep a frown. "What are you doing here?"

"Me? What are you doing here?"

"Dr. Oliver's letting me stay here," Jordan said. He invited Gia, Mr. and Mrs. Carver and Mr. Holling into the house. It was still early in the morning and he was wearing nothing but his boxers. It was a sight Gia had seen countless times having lived with him in the command center and on the ship, but Jordan felt a little exposed because of the parents. He grabbed a blanket and wrapped it around his waist.

"You're staying here?" Gia asked and gestured around the house. "Jordan, when Emma said she wanted you to leave..."

"She just wanted me out of the way and safe. I can't cause trouble here and I am safe. I'm living with Dr. Oliver. If anyone knows how to handle aliens and monsters, it's him."

At that very moment, Dr. Oliver came down the stairs, "Jordan, who was at the door?"

"An annoying person," Jordan smirked. Gia punched him hard in the chest and smiled at Dr. Oliver as he walked over. She then gestured to Jake and Noah's parents.

"We've run into a bit of a problem."

"Okay," Dr. Oliver frowned. Jake's father seemed to recognize him and raised his eyebrows.

"Wait, weren't you the kids' teacher?"

"Dr. Oliver," he offered his hand for a shake. "But you can call me Thomas. And yes, I am their teacher."

"Um, why are we at your teacher's house?" Mrs. Carver asked Gia. The yellow Ranger smiled.

"Dr. Oliver's one of the original Power Rangers. He's been helping us. If anyone knows where it's safe for you to go, it's him."

"You were a former Power Ranger?" Mr. Carver asked. "How many of you are there?"

"A lot," Dr. Oliver chuckled. Then he turned to Gia, "So, how exactly did this happen?"

"Would you believe invisibility?"

"I lived it," Dr. Oliver nodded. "You've got to be more careful."

"Hey, this time, I'm not the problem," Gia held her hands up. "Jake and Noah were the ones who decided to go home. Vekar and his crew tracked them down. Apparently, I'm the only one who can't see the others."

"Well, no more telling your parents who you are."

"There are no more parents to tell," Gia smirked. Dr. Oliver sighed, pinched the bridge of his nose, and then shifted his attention to the parents. He gestured to the living room. "Please, come in. Make yourselves at home. I'll get right to work on finding you somewhere safe to hide out. I promise, you won't have to worry about aliens attacking you again."

"It's not us we're worried about," Mr. Holling said. Dr. Oliver offered him a reassuring smile.

"I've worked with your kids for a while now. Believe me when I say, they've got what it takes."

The parents went to the couches while Dr. Oliver brought his attention back to Gia just for a moment to tell her not to leave. After making sure the parents were comfortable and offering them something to eat or drink, he excused himself upstairs. Gia, meanwhile, stared Jordan down until he felt uncomfortable. He sighed loudly.

"What?"

"Dr. Oliver was supposed to send you somewhere..."

"I didn't want to be too far," Jordan shrugged his shoulders. "If anything happens..."

"Emma will kill you."

"I mean if anything happened to her," Jordan said. "I don't want to be three hours away. I don't want to have to take a bus, a train, or even a freaking airplane while she's hanging on for dear life."

"I'm not letting that happen..."

"You're not indestructible," Jordan shook his head. "Look, Dr. Oliver's managed to stay off Vekar and Vrak's radar. He's got a basement full of weapons and the know-how to stay alive in dangerous, end of the world situations. I don't think I could be any safer."

"Yeah but..."

"Emma's not the one worried here, is she?" Jordan asked with a little smirk. Gia frowned and punched him again.

"I'm speaking for her!"

"Emma doesn't know I'm here. And won't know or worry unless you tell her."

"Or something happens and you die."

"I'm with Dr. Oliver. I'm safer than your moms right now."

"Jordan..."

"Gia," he put his hands on her shoulders. "Nothing's going to happen to me. Even if it does, I'm with Dr. Oliver. He's also training me, you know. He even said I'm almost good enough to be a Ranger myself."

"Almost isn't good enough."

"Hey, his training is rough. It makes Troy's look like preschool gym class. I'm fine, alright. Nothing's going to happen to me."

"I'll kill you if something does," Gia muttered. "You know, because Emma will be devastated."

"Yeah, okay," Jordan smirked while Gia punched him in the arm again. Finally, Dr. Oliver came back into the room and he was carrying five rolled up pieces of paper, each tied with ribbons matching the Rangers' colours. He offered them to Gia.

"It didn't feel right sending these online," he told her. "I had Ms. Chesterfield print them up before the school closed for the summer."

"What are they?" Gia asked. Dr. Oliver smiled.

"High school diplomas. You all left a little work incomplete, but I gave you points for extra credit because, you know, saving the world really should be a class for Rangers."

"You mean we all graduated?"

"Did you ever have any doubts?" Dr. Oliver chuckled. "Congratulations to all of you. I know you have a bright future awaiting you."

"After you save the world," Jordan smirked. Gia rolled her eyes at him and then smiled to Dr. Oliver. She took the diplomas in her hand and then put them in her bag. Gia thanked him, punched Jordan lightly in the arm one last time and then walked out of the house.


	12. Changing The Game Plan

Gia had given her morpher to Rebecca, so she would have to walk back to the Sky Ship and have Tensou pick her up. Fortunately, with the city under attack, most of the roads were cleared. Gia was sure it would be an easy walk.

She found out the hard way she was wrong. When she turned the corner, she saw it was just the Armada trying to destroy the city on this day. Cliff stood before her with that wicked smirk she had grown to hate. He cracked his knuckles when he saw her. Gia clenched her fists.

"What do you want?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Cliff asked. He looked around quickly. "Where's your puppy?"

"I see you got your arm back," Gia answered. She didn't want to admit to Cliff she was all alone, but doubted he would believe her invisible friends were behind her. Tensou could see the other Rangers, and the Armada had no trouble seeing them either. It was likely with his upgrades Cliff would be able to spot them as well.

Not to mention, she could hear the explosions down the street from the battle going on. Cliff wasn't a total idiot.

"Yeah, that's something we need to talk about," Cliff growled. "I'm tired of playing your little games."

"Cliff..."

"You're mine!"

"I don't belong to anyone!"

"You're telling me you're happy with that pathetic kid?" Cliff asked. "You go from a real man to... that?"

"We've had this talk, Cliff. You're the furthest thing from a real man..."

"You need someone to put you back in your place," Cliff growled. "See, if you were still with me..."

"I'd kill myself."

"Alright then," Cliff detached his Vulcan Cannon from his belt set it on the ground and then kicked it over to Gia. "Vrak's just waiting in the shadows for when your friends finish their fight. He'll keep them distracted long enough for this to get ugly. And I know you're without a morpher."

"Yeah, but now I have this," Gia picked up the blaster and held it up for Cliff to see. "One shot with this might not kill you, but it will leave you crippled enough for me to get away."

"Go ahead," Cliff opened his arms, exposing himself and giving Gia easy access to his chest. Even with the Robo-Knight armour, Gia knew shooting him would cause a fair bit of damage. The Vulcan Cannon had always been a very powerful weapon.

So she fired, without a second thought. The blast shot out of the barrel and went straight to Cliff, but only halfway before it turned around and came right back to Gia. She jumped out of the way to miss the shot itself, but the explosion swept her up and knocked her into the side of the building. Cliff chuckled.

"Did you really think I'd hand you my blaster and not put the safety on it first?" he asked. "You can fire as often as you'd like, it's never going to shoot me. But if you'd really rather die than be with me, go ahead. Make life easier for everyone."

Gia growled as she picked up the Vulcan Cannon again. Cliff watched her with amusement. He was enjoying it and Gia didn't like that.

"You'd really let me die?" she asked him. "After all this, you'd just let me blow myself up? Have you found another girl?"

"Are you jealous?"

"I just need to know if there's someone who needs rescuing," Gia shook her head. She threw the blaster to the ground. "I'm not killing myself and I'm not going anywhere with you."

She turned around to run, but suddenly Cliff was right in front of her. She bumped into his chest and stumbled back. She looked up at him. He was still smirking.

"You're cute when you think you have a choice," he said. He reached out to stroke her cheek but Gia pushed his hand away. Cliff chuckled, "I will get you back."

"There's no way," Gia shook her head. She tried to walk the other way. Cliff followed her.

"It's because of your puppy, right? Him and his friends and that annoying little sis of mine. They're the ones telling you lies that you can do better?"

"Lies?" Gia scoffed. Cliff put his arm around her. Gia threw it off. "I know better."

"No, you don't," Cliff growled and then slapped her cheek. The next thing Gia knew, she was on the ground. She spit blood from her mouth as she pushed herself back up. Cliff grabbed her wrists as soon as she was on her feet and pulled her in. "I'm trying a new approach. One I'm sure will get you back. You see, I'm going to be everywhere. We know about your robo-heart. We know all about the hardware because, well, I've got the same one."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"We can track you, Gia," Cliff smirked. "My father's build a machine special for this. At any time, no matter where you go, I can find you. I know when you leave that precious ship. I can even tell when you're alone."

"Based on my robo-heart?"

"You put on a brave face, but deep down, you're still a scared, pathetic little girl," Cliff said. "And every time you leave your ship, I'll be there. Every time you're alone, I'll be there. Every time you're with that stupid puppy, I'll be there."

"And you're telling me this because..."

"Because I don't want you to feel safe. I want you to know that everywhere you go, everything you do, I'll be right there with you, just waiting for the right moment to strike."

As he said that, he smashed Gia into the building and lifted her off the ground. He looked up at her, smirking.

"And if you think your puppy or any of your friends can protect you, you're wrong. I'm going to break them, just like I've broken you. That little wimp you call a boyfriend, I'll get him first. I'll break his neck. I'll make him wish he was never born and that he never once touched you."

"Don't hurt him."

"I'm going to hurt him. I'm going to hurt him so bad, he'll hate you for it. And, once I've got him where I want him, I'll let him watch as I take you back. As I have my way with you and show him how a real man keeps you in line."

"You're all talk..."

"Really?" Cliff asked with a little smirk, "When have I ever been all talk? I go through with my promises. All of them. Remember?"

Gia growled. Cliff slammed her into the wall again.

"Then, when I'm done with your little boy toy, I'm going to hurt Emma."

"She's your sister..."

"Oh, I'm not going to do anything. But don't think it's gotten past us who she really is. A princess? Vekar's wife. I'm sure he'd be thrilled to take her back."

"Thrilled? She locked him up."

"Hey, I don't care what he does with her. Kills her, tortures her, maybe forces her to actually be a real wife instead of an out of control little whore. Whatever. As long as she's out of my way, he can do what he wants. As for your other friends, I'll let Vrak kill them all. Slowly, so they hurt, and only after all of them know just how pathetic and stupid they are for letting a little bitch like you run them over."

"You can't hurt me," Gia shook her head. "I won't let you..."

"You won't have a choice," Cliff said. "By the time I get to you again, you'll already be broken with nothing to hope for. I'll be the only one you have left."

Cliff leaned in and pressed his lips to hers. With her back against a wall, Gia couldn't pull away but she refused to kiss him back even when he slapped her and told her to do what she was told. Eventually he let her go. She dropped to the ground on her knees and then lost her breathe when Cliff kicked her. She grabbed her stomach and gasped for air as she fell forward. Cliff knelt next to her as she tried to catch her breath.

"So what'll it be?" he asked. He picked up the Vulcan Cannon and offered it to her, "Are we going to play my little game or will you just end it? After all, if I can't have you, nobody else should."

Gia reached out for the Vulcan Cannon. There was no way she was going to play Cliff's game. She wasn't going to let him win. As soon as she saw a flash of pink in the corner of her eye, she shot the blaster right for Cliff. Just as expected, the blast turned around before it could hit him and came right back for her. She couldn't jump out of the way, but didn't take the full brunt of the shot. However, the explosion did spread wide. She soared through the air and heard Cliff crying out in pain as he too was caught in the aftermath.

-Megaforce-

Rebecca wanted to cheer and celebrate her win as she walked onto the Sky Ship, but she was exhausted. After she helped the team defeat the ghost alien, Vrak had turned up. He gave the Rangers a run for their money and now Rebecca knew for sure they weren't lying when they said he was a tough opponent, but an explosion from down the street pulled his attention away before he could start to finish off the Rangers and he left without reason. Tensou had alerted the Rangers that Cliff had also turned up in the city, so Rebecca, figured it had something to do with that. She thought maybe his plan had messed up. She was happy for the way things turned out, but really tired.

"You were great," Noah said to her as he put his arm around her.

"You would have made an amazing silver Ranger," Orion agreed. Rebecca felt his hand touch her back and smiled brightly. She had given up on wanting to be a Ranger a while back, especially when she found out she had just missed on her chance to have a morpher, but she was glad that for the second time, she got to live her dream.

"Better than you?" she asked the alien.

"Maybe... maybe not," he said playfully. Rebecca smirked.

"Well, I'll take that as a yes."

"You did great, but we could have used an extra hand," Jake commented as he looked around the ship. "Where do you think Emma took off to?"

"Tensou did say Cliff was in town," Troy pointed out. "She must have gone to see what he was up to. It couldn't be anything good."

"Hey, if Vrak took off as suddenly as he did, that's got to mean she did something right. She must have foiled his plan or something."

"Probably kicked his ass," Noah chuckled. "Man, even though I know I can watch it for free, I'd still pay to see that happen every time."

"Maybe next time Cliff comes to town I should just take off," Jake muttered. "I want to hand him his ass too."

"Even Noah got a shot at that," Orion chuckled. Noah rolled his eyes.

"I'd hardly call standing up to him only to get my ass kicked handing him his ass. Though it did feel pretty awesome to frustrate him."

"I'm just saying, I want my shot."

"I'm sure you'll get it," Troy said and pat Jake on the back just as Emma walked out from the bedroom. She had some scars, most of which the boys could place from the fight against the ghost alien, but others that seemed newer. Then she placed her broken morpher on the table and looked up at the guys sadly.

"Okay, don't freak out..."

"Freak out?" Noah grumbled as he picked up her morpher. "Do you know how long it's going to take to fix this?"

"Tensou promised he'd fix it," Emma shook her head. "But... um, that's not what you have to worry about."

"Worry about what?" Jake asked. "Are we still invisible? Did Cliff do something worse? Can't we just get a day off?"

"Gia wants to see you," Emma told him. Jake didn't think much of it. Gia had taken his parents somewhere safe before he got to say a proper goodbye. He assumed she just had a few words to pass on from them.

Emma watched him walk into her bedroom and while she was sure the others were curious about what was going on she knew they wouldn't have to wait long. The door barely had any time to close before the green Ranger stormed out, red with anger. Emma rushed over to stop him leaving the ship.

"Jake, don't do something stupid."

"I don't care. I'll kill him! I'll kill him dead!" Jake shouted. Emma grabbed his arm and pulled him back.

"He wants you pissed off. He'll want a fight!"

"I'll kick his ass. I'll make him regret..."

"Jake, stop it!"

"You stop it!" Jake shouted and shoved Emma to the floor. He was about to turn away, but as he looked up he saw Gia standing in the doorway of her room, staring at him in horror. He knew what she had seen and he knew what she would think if he took off. He took a deep breath and offered his hand to Emma.

"I'm sorry," he said. He helped her up to her feet. "Just... just tell me what happened."


End file.
